1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to multi-vitamin and mineral supplements, and particularly to a novel multi-vitamin and mineral supplement for administration during pregnancy.
2. Description of Related Art
Vitamin and mineral preparations are commonly administered to treat specific medical conditions or as general nutritional supplements. Recent studies have elucidated the important physiological roles played by vitamins and minerals, and established a correlation between deficiencies or excesses of these nutrients and the etiologies of certain disease states in humans. See, e.g., Diplock, "Antioxidant Nutrients and Disease Prevention: An Overview," Am. J. Clin. Nutr., 53:189-193 (1991); Documenta Geigy Scientific Tables, 457-497 (Diem and Cemtuer eds., 7th ed., 1975).
It has further become recognized that various groups of the human population require different quantities and types of vitamins and minerals to prevent or alleviate diseases, as well as to maintain general good health. For example, it is known that pregnant women commonly require iron therapy to prevent or treat iron-deficiency anemia. Various prior patents have been directed to improving the efficacy of iron supplements for use during pregnancy. U.S. Pat. No. 4,994,283, for example, discloses nutritional mineral supplements which include iron and calcium compounds in combination with citrates or tartrates, ascorbates, and fructose. The tendency of calcium to inhibit the bioavailability of iron is said to be reduced in such compositions, so that the conjoint bioavailability of these two minerals is enhanced.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,431,634 maximizes the bioavailability of iron in prenatal iron supplements by maintaining the amount of calcium compounds in the supplement at 300 mg or less and the amount of magnesium compounds at 75 mg or less per dosage unit.
Another approach to the same problem is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,479, wherein a multi-vitamin and mineral dietary supplement is provided which includes (a) one or more divalent dietary mineral components such as calcium or magnesium; and (b) a bioavailable iron component, present in a controlled release form and adapted to be released in a controlled manner in the gastrointestinal tract.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,387 discloses a nutritional supplement preparation for pregnant and breast-feeding women which contains 10-20% by weight of protein, 16-28% by weight of fat, 43-65% by weight carbohydrates, and at most 3.5% by weight of moisture, minerals, trace elements and vitamins.
Despite the foregoing efforts to improve vitamin and mineral supplementation for pregnant women, conventional prenatal supplements exhibit several deficiencies. One notable problem is that currently available prenatal vitamins are unitary formulations which do not differentiate the presence and levels of particular nutritional components depending upon the stage of fetal development. Such unitary formulations are wasteful of nutritional materials, and do not take into account the significant variations in the nutritional requirements for both the mother and the developing fetus depending upon the stage of fetal development.
Thus, conventional prenatal supplements typically provide inadequate levels of calcium and other essential nutrients during the third trimester of fetal development when such nutrients are most needed, and may provide excessive levels of other nutrients during the first and second trimesters when such dosage levels are unneeded and perhaps even harmful. For example, the excessive presence of iron in conventional prenatal supplements often produces stomach upset in the mother during the first trimester of fetal growth, when morning sickness is most pronounced.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a prenatal multi-vitamin and mineral supplement which overcomes the aforementioned deficiencies of the prior art.